LOS ANGELES — Kyle Kuzma scored a season-high 36 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 125-110 road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
The win was the Lakers’ eighth consecutive.
The Lakers led by as many as 32 points in the second half but the Thunder cut the lead to just 11 with less than three minutes remaining before Kuzma hit back-to-back shots to put the game firmly in control once again.
Kuzma was four of six from behind the 3-point line.
For the second consecutive night, the Lakers put together a monster first quarter.
In Friday night’s win in Dallas, Los Angeles scored 45 points in the opening frame without Anthony Davis.
In Oklahoma City, the Lakers scored 41 points in the first 12 minutes without its two biggest stars.
Davis missed his second consecutive game with a contusion of his gluteus maximus.
LeBron James was held out with flu-like symptoms.
James had been listed on the injury report due to illness prior to Friday’s win in Dallas, where he finished with 35 points, a season-high 16 rebounds and seven assists.
But James couldn’t battle through it Saturday on the second of a back-to-back.
“His chest was burning all throughout the game,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said before Saturday’s game. “We had to get him out early in the first quarter. I was using timeouts to get him rest, but most of my timeouts last night were centered around helping him fight through the chest cold.”
Los Angeles was without a third starter, as Danny Green missed with right hip soreness.
The Lakers jumped out to the big lead, thanks in part to hot 3-point shooting. Los Angeles shot 76.9% from behind the arc in the first half. The Thunder were just two of 13 from long distance before halftime.
Rajon Rondo added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers.
Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points each to lead the Thunder, who lost for just the second time in nine games.
TATUM HITS CAREER-HIGH 41 AS CELTICS STOMP PELICANS
Jayson Tatum scored a career-high 41 points in three quarters of play as the Boston Celtics crushed the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 140-105 on Saturday night.
Tatum shot 16 of 22 from the field with a career-best six 3-pointers as the Celtics snapped a season-long three-game losing streak. Enes Kanter added seasons highs of 22 points and 19 rebounds.
Frank Jackson had a team-high 22 points off the bench for the Pelicans, who lost for just the third time in their last 10 games. Rookie Jaxson Hayes scored a career-high 20 points, and Lonzo Ball (10 points, 13 rebounds) fell an assist shy of a triple-double.
The Celtics had 14 steals compared to four for the Pelicans. New Orleans was outscored 74-42 in the paint.
The Celtics used a 19-3 run on their way to their first double-digit lead, 30-18, on a Gordon Hayward three-point play with 2:44 remaining in the first quarter. Boston led 41-24 after one, its most points scored in a quarter this season.
The Celtics grabbed their first 20-point advantage early in the second quarter and took their largest lead of the half at 57-35 on a Tatum 3-pointer with 7:42 to go. New Orleans got within 14, 64-50, with 3:02 left, but Tatum answered with a pair of 3s as Boston led 72-57 at the break.
Tatum led all scorers with 22 points — 11 apiece in the first and second quarter. Jackson paced the Pelicans with 14.
The Celtics began the third with a 21-9 surge and led 93-66 at the midway point of the quarter. Tatum eclipsed 30 points on the night with a layup with 4:37 left in the quarter, and he followed with a 3 as Boston grabbed its first 30-point lead, 101-71.
Tatum drained his sixth trey less than a minute later, and he surpassed his previous career high of 39 points on a bucket in the paint with 1:04 to go as the Celtics carried a 114-82 lead into the fourth quarter. Tatum sat out the final 12 minutes. — Reuters
